Mystery Babylon
Who is the Whore of Revelation 17?
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, "Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication."
There is a popular belief that mystery Babylon refers to the Roman Catholic Church. One of the books most often quoted in support of this idea is Alexander Hislop’s “The Two Babylons”. The problem with this view is the fact that there are many false religions on the face of the earth that are neither Catholic nor Christian! As will be seen, the scriptures speak about this woman, whose origins are from ancient times, long before Christianity took up the cup of her abominations!
The idol Ishtar, from the Babylonian empire, is very likely what is spoken of by Jeremiah the prophet as the queen of heaven (Jer 7:18; 44:16-19)
Jeremiah 7:18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other elohim, that they may provoke me to anger.
Is there any way of identifying this queen of heaven? Looking up Jeremiah 7:18 (quoted above) in a couple of references, we find the following:
1. In the commentary of the Ryrie Study Bible: The queen of heaven. The Assyro-Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
2. In the commentary of the NIV Study Bible: Queen of Heaven. A Babylonian title for Ishtar, an important goddess in the Babylonian pantheon.
3. In Ungers Bible Dictionary it says under the heading "Queen of Heaven" (Hebrew Meleketh hashshamayim, Jer 7:18; 44:17-19, 25) Astarte, an ancient Semitic deity, identical with Babylonian Ishtar (Venus)
Is there any symbol in the world today that represents the idol Ishtar?
Fact: One of the worlds largest idols that has ever been constructed is the Statue of Liberty in the harbor of New York City. According to the following research, the Statue of Liberty is an idol which represents something specific:
The sculptor of the Statue of Liberty was Auguste Bertholdi. He belonged to the Masonic Lodge in Paris. Before beginning the statue of liberty project, Bertholdi was seeking a commission to construct a giant statue of the goddess "Isis," the Egyptian Queen of Heaven, to overlook the Suez canal. The statue of Isis was to be of "a robed woman holding aloft a torch" [The preceding information is from, “IS THE STATUE OF LIBERTY PAGAN?” by William Dankenbring]
If Revelation 17 is referring to Ishtar, represented by the Statue of Liberty, it would not only be the sins of Christianity, as would be the case with the Roman Catholic Church, but it would include most all false religions on the face of the earth.
Continuing on in Revelation 17…
Revelation 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
It can be seen here that the whore rides upon the seven headed beast, which represent the seven empires that have existed throughout world history (see Daniel 7 and Rev. 13)
Revelation 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, a mystery: "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
Mystery Babylon is guilty of being the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Even though the Roman Catholic Church has been referred to as the mother of the protestant reformation, the mother goddess Ishtar has even deeper roots.
It is interesting to note that ancient Babylon's chief deity "Ishtar" (AKA "Iana") held the very same title in Babylon, "Mother of Harlots."
As Alexander Hislop shows, in his book entitled, "The Two Babylons", Isis is the Egyptian name for the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, who is also the same as Athena (Greece), Minerva (Egypt and Greece), Astarte (Syria), Cybele (Rome), Ashtoreth (Israel), and Diana (Ephesus).
A site on the internet entitled, Statue of Liberty Facts, makes the following statements:
7 Spikes in the Crown represent:
Either Seven Seas:
Arctic, Antarctic, North
& South Atlantic,
North & South Pacific,
Indian.
SEVEN SEAS — Figuratively, all the waters or oceans of the world.
The phrase probably has its origins in Brahmanic (Hindu) mythology:
The seven seas dividing and surrounding the seven land masses of the earth. In modern times it has been applied to the seven oceans.
Or Seven Continents:
North and South America,
Europe,
Asia, Africa, Antarctica,
Australia
Continuing on with Revelation chapter 17
Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Yahushua: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, "Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth." 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
A familiar explanation of verse 9 is that the seven mountains represent the seven hills of Rome; but how many believe that the seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills of Rome? Notice that in verse nine, it says, "And here is the mind that has wisdom." So, in order to understand the rest of verse nine, along with verse ten, it requires the wisdom and understanding of YHWH.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the set-apart is understanding.
In Daniel chapter 7, the seven heads are on four beasts (representing four kingdoms). But, in Revelation 17:10, it says that there are seven kings. So the seven heads represent seven kings, and by implication they can represent seven kingdoms. Can we identify seven kingdoms that have existed, starting from the time of the flood?
It says that five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come. From the time of the flood, there have been five kingdoms that have fallen: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. The one that was during the time of John was Rome. And one that had not yet come was the Ottoman Empire. It seems that the whore who rides upon this beast, is the mother of all the false religions within these empires.
According to Revelation 13, the seven headed beast represents the final evil empire during the great tribulation (A culmination of the preceding 7 empires).
As we have already seen (in Revelation 17:1), this woman sits upon many waters. Then in verse 15...
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
It is interesting that the promoters of the Statue of Liberty claim that the seven spikes of her crown represent the seven seas!
More from “Statue of Liberty Facts”...
Official accepting Statue on behalf of US: President Grover Cleveland
Date of Acceptance by President: October 28, 1886
Part of Acceptance Statement by President Cleveland:
"We will not forget that liberty here made
her home;
nor shall her chosen altar be neglected."
Some highlights of the Statue Inscription:
...a mighty woman with a torch
and her name Mother of Exiles.
"Keep ancient lands your storied pomp!"
cries she with silent lips.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
Emma Lazarus (1849-1887)
The idol Ishtar (represented by the Statue of Liberty) was known, in ancient Babylon, as the goddess of personal freedom and the goddess of immigrants. The following was taken from, "America the Babylon" by Richard Coombs:
Ishtar was called the matron goddess of prostitution because she promoted sexual freedom. Indeed, she had invented the concept. Slaves considered her their goddess in the hopes of winning their freedom. Many women who gained freedom later turned to prostitution to survive and thereby retained Libertas as their goddess, especially if they became priestesses in the Libertas cult. Libertas was also a goddess of war in order to fight for freedom. She was also referred at times as the goddess of victory because freedom must have victory in order to survive. This goddess was also the goddess of immigrants. The whole idea of immigration connoted the idea of freedom. Her popularity was also unique because of her unique doctrine of hearing personal prayers. This unique doctrine was something that most of the pagan deity doctrines were not disposed towards.
We know that this goddess existed because of the records left behind to us. We have the ancient writings of Cicero who writes of this goddess and her Temple on the Aventine Way in Rome. She was depicted on some Roman coins as wearing a freedom cap and having a wreath along with a spear or sometimes a sword. Such coin images were not the only depictions. Sometimes she was well robed and at other times seductively unclothed in both sculptures and paintings. We know of Libertas being referred to as the Mother of Harlots by the famous Roman historian (and senator) Cicero's writings. Cicero indicates that she was also a very early goddess of the Greeks even before early Roman civilization developed.
This very freedom has brought to these shores (America) every false religion known to man. Even if one were to have the wisdom of Solomon, they would still be vulnerable to the snares of false religions. Solomon committed fornication with the whore of Revelation 17...
1 Kings 11:4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other elohim: and his heart was not perfect with YHWH his Elohim, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.
Remember that Ashtoreth is another name for the Queen of Heaven. Again, Revelation 17, verses 1 and 15 call her a whore that sits upon many waters, which seems to represent the entire world!
Revelation 17:16-17 talks about ten kings hating the whore and making her desolate…
17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For YHWH hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of YHWH shall be fulfilled.
The Beast is going to be a one world religion/government that will not tolerate religious freedom of any kind. (see 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4)
Notice how the following verse in Revelation ties chapter 17, religious Babylon, with chapter 18, commercial Babylon…
Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
By now it should be obvious that the Statue of Liberty represents the whore spoken of in Revelation 17. Not only does the Statue of Liberty represent the religious (idolatrous) freedom found in the United States, but she is also a symbol for New York City, the economic capital of Babylon the Great, spoken of in Revelation 18.
Study by YermeYah
Where is Babylon the Great?